tion will take place in August next, when the other officers of the Institution will be appointed, the rules and regulations by which the society is to be governed adopted and printed, with the names of the subscribers, which are already extremely numerous and daily increasing. Rooms suitable for the museum have been taken, and will speedily be fitted up for the reception of specimens ; and when this infant society is fairly established, we shall have great pleasure in devoting a portion of our pages to recording their proceedings, and giving publicity to the essays and papers of the talented naturalists with which that district abounds, who may favour us with the result of their scientific investigations.

CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

A Dictionary of Terms employed by the French, in Anatomy, Physiology, &c.; with their derivations from the Greek and Latin; and their Synonyms in the Greek, Latin, French, German, and English. By Shirley Palmer, M.D. Part II. London: Longman & Co. Birmingham: Barlow. 1836.

IF there be a labourer in the Campus literarius more neglected than another, it is the lexicographist; beheld as a mere collector of other men's goods, industry is regarded as his only merit. But a dictionary is susceptible of a higher character than that of a mere conservatory: it is a work in which wisdom, gathered from the records of time, is condensed within a few pages; giving an extension to knowledge otherwise unattainable, and making every one its possessor by the facility of that attainment. The genius of man elevates the most humble occupation, and gives it an importance unexpected and permanent. The labour of Johnson as a lexicographist raised this department of literature into celebrity; and while he worked out a new source of national improvement, he added a new lustre to the annals of our literature. The value of a book is not what it will fetch, but what it will communicate; whether it be momentary amusement, or permanent utility. Works of fiction, poetry, and romance, are dictionaries of their kind; they record feelings and actions which have had a thousand precedents; nor can they exhibit anything new beyond the expression of them: but while the universal mind is but the unchangeable reflection of the same image, its desires and propensities will be the same; and those sounds which are the echoes to its own feelings will always be listened to. Thus, the love of fiction, either in prose or verse, is universal; that of science exclusive and particular. The former is coeval with its cause; the latter arises out of our wants,

and exists only so long as the demand. While one man will read Cuvier, a thousand will read and re-read Scott. Creation is certainly the highest effort of intellect; but it requires no ordinary powers to collect from the vast mass of knowledge; to distinguish between right and wrong, and to work it up into a systematic form, that it may be a reference for the scholar.

The character of a people is determined by their productions. Books are the flowers of time, and exhibit in their character, not only national, but individual qualities. A few centuries ago, when the means of acquiring knowledge were confined to the cowled and secluded priest, the phenomena of Nature and the discoveries of Science were alike unknown. When the light of truth was absorbed in the gloomy jargon of Monachism, that made ignorance a virtue, the books then produced were the labours of strenuous idleness, that served but to confirm and perpetuate the evil. By slow degrees, knowledge struggled through the dim obscure, creating as it arose, the means for its promulgation, elementary works, compendiums, cyclopædias, lexicons, dictionaries of language, of science, and art; all issuing from the original source as so many devaricating streams, until a moral and intellectual change became a national characteristic.

The demand for elementary works, and the numerous additions to our books of reference, are particular signs of the age; it bespeaks a general desire for knowledge. No longer content with that small modicum of learning which was handed from father to son as a species of oral tradition, Englishmen see that they must think for themselves, and that their success and happiness depend upon the solidity of their judgment. Might is no longer right. The competition is now with powers which acknowledge no visible opponent; and ignorance becomes synonymous with defeat. To supply the means adequate to success is the object of every one; and thus, whatever hope of fame the lexicographist may have, he is, at least, certain of selling his work, and communicating intelligence to thousands, however backward they may be in acknowledging the debt.

Works of reference are daily increasing, and must continue to do so, since they register successive discoveries. During the last twenty years, elementary works have multiplied almost beyond calculation, while the advancement of science and art gives constant encouragement to a further circulation. On the continent the same spirit prevails. The French produce with a facility that seems to distance competition: it is true their compilations are a sort of jointstock company rather than trust to the formality of one person, they engage seven or eight " Docteurs en Medecine;" and hence their "Dictionnaire des Termes" is built up with far less skill and precision than the work now under review. With a slight remaining touch for the speculative and the absurd, les Docteurs Françaises combine the hypothetical with the rational, error with truth, and much that is useless and unnecessary. What are such words as Aabam, Abarnahas, Abraxas, Abracadabra, Abracalan, and a hun

dred other uncouth cabalistic terms, to do for the student whose search is for truth, and truth only? Dr. Palmer has wisely omitted every term but such as are necessarily connected with the sciences.

In reviewing works of reference, the common rules of criticism are altogether inadequate: the unities hold no controul over such productions; nor can we measure their excellence by the heighth or depth of intellect. A dictionary is an Augean labour, requiring much learning, and more perseverance; a record of nature and art, in which hypotheses, however brilliant, are repudiated, since the laws of nature cannot be contradictory to themselves: it is, therefore, a history of facts. How far Dr. Palmer has fulfilled his task, no individual can determine: the merit of a book which especially becomes the property of the public, must and will be decided by the public use of it.

The compilation of such a work as this of Dr. Palmer's, by the unassisted labour of an individual, exhibits a power of mind which few possess, and which very few would be bold enough to exercise. Dr. Palmer has certainly accomplished his undertaking with great credit: the work exhibits all the excellences required. The articles in Natural History are admirably written, presenting, as it were, a medico-zoological grammar. The articles in Physiology, Pathology, Practice of Medicine, &c., &c., are highly satisfactory; while those on Anatomy and Botany are correct and concise. The whole style is chaste and perspicuous; and the scholar will find very few classical errors: while the German and French synonyms render the work invaluable to the student. If there be a fault, it is in the omission of the Italian, which we could have wished to have seen introduced. The style in which the book is printed, and its exemption from typographical inaccuracies, reflect great credit on the enterprizing publisher. We would particularly call the attention of our readers to the articles Cote, Estomac, Femur, and Glande, in illustration of Human and Comparative Anatomy; in Morbid Anatomy, Granulation and Hématode; in Medicine, Epilepsie, Fièvre ; in Surgery, Hernia; Obstetrics, Grossesse ; Materia Medica, Graisse, Hippanthropie, Huille; Medical Zoology, Gymnote and Hirudinées; Medical Botany, Hellebore; Medical Chemistry and Mineralogy, Fer and Hermatite; Miscellaneous, Crépuscule, Encyclopédie, Géographie, Gymnase, and Histoire Naturelle. The following extracts will afford a fair specimen of the work :

"FOIE, s. m.,-ag,-hepar, jecur, n. L.,-leber, n. G.,-liver: in Human and Comparative Anatomy, a large abdominal gland, the organ of the biliary secretion; existing, under divers modifications of form and structure, in all the animal series, from Man to the Molluscum. The liver exhibits the peculiarity of receiving, by a distinct apparatus of veins,-see VEINE PORTE, all the returning blood from the chylopoietic organs. The purposes of this disposition are unknown. Venous blood is not essentially requisite for the secretion of bile: since this fluid exists in the Mollusca, where the vena-portal system is deficient; and has been found in the gall-bladder of a human subject in whom the vena portarum passed to the vena cava, without entering the liver. And, again, the large quantity of blood, supplied

to the organ by the hepatic artery, see HEPATIQUE,-would seem to be more than sufficient for the mere purposes of its nutrition."

"GLUTEN, s. m.,-n. L., and E.,-xóaλa,-kleber, n. G.: an immediate principle of vegetables, the peculiar substance which remains after the farina of wheat has been exhausted of its starch; so named, on account of its glutinous properties. Taddei regards it as composed of two distinct principles,— one soluble in alcohol, see GLIADINE; the other insoluble,-see ZIMOME: and indicates it as an antidote to the poisonous effects of Oxymuriate of Quicksilver; alike preferable, from its chemical and physical operation, to the albumen proposed by Orfila. Four scruples of an "emulsive powder of gluten" are sufficient to neutralize twelve grains of the deuto-chloride. He, also, eulogizes a compound glutinous mercurial preparation as the best antisyphilitic for the sublimate, although thus reduced to the condition of a proto-chloride, still retains so much of the properties of the deuto-chloride, as rarely to induce salivation or diarrhoea."

"FAISAN, S. m. : a genus, in Ornithology, Phasianus (Gallinacées, Cuv.; Gallina, Linn.), L.,—der Fasan, G.,—Pheasant ; containing several species. Of these, the common pheasant, Ph. colchicus,-le fais. vulgaire, F.,-qaosávos,—der gemeine fasan, G.,—and the domestic fowl,—Ph. gallus,—le coq,—(å àλéxrwę, xaì i åλserogis,-cock and hen),-der haushahn, of Indian origin, and comprehending numerous varieties, are the principal. The flesh of both species affords a grateful and highly nutritious aliment. The young, especially in a state of domestication, are subject to a destructive malady, termed Gapes, resulting from the irritation of an entozoary animal,-Fasciola trachea, Montagu, Distoma trachea, Rudolphi: which, attaching itself to the membrane of the windpipe, induces suffocation. Tobacco-fumigations are said to be its specific remedy. See Montagu, Ornithological Dictionary, Supplement, Art. Pheasant; or Rennie's Edition, p. 370. The assumption of the male plumage and the spur by the hen-birds of these species, on cessation of the generative functions, constitutes an interesting and curious physiological fact; to which a parallel may be observed in the beard developed on the chin of the human female, in the decline of life. See the Wernerian Transactions, v. iii., p. 183. The Pheasant derives its designations, generic and specific, from Phasis, a river of Colchis, the modern Mingrelia: whence this valuable bird was first brought into Europe, by the Argonauts, on their return from the celebrated expedition into Asia."

"GINSEN, OU GINSENG, S. m.; in Botany and Materia Medica, the supposed root of a plant, Panax quinquefolium, ( Polyandria, monoec.; Araliacea), L.;-which grows in Chinese Tartary, Japan, and has since been discovered in Canada. The term, Gen-seng, literally signifying, first of plants, appears, however, to have been indiscrimately applied, in China, to the roots of species of several other genera, in addition to those of Panax. See Dictionnaire Universel de Matière Médicale, v. iii., Art. Gen-seng. The root of P. quinquefolium is moderately stimulant and tonic; but has not sustained, in European practice, the extravagant reputation, as an aphrodisiac, and panacea, conferred upon it, in numerous monographs, by the Chinese physicians: and has, at length, fallen into merited neglect."

"GRAPHITE, S. m.,-graphites, m. (ygάow, to write), L.,-graphit, m., reissblei, n. G. in Mineralogy, the designation of the per-carburet of iron, employed in the manufacture of the "black-lead pencil." Plumbago is medi cinally used, on the continent, both as an internal and topical remedy, in cutaneous diseases. "Der Graphit, ein art kohlensaures eisen, bewährt sich als ein vorzügliches mittel in hautkrankheiten.” Otto, Reise durch die Schweiz, etc., p. 59."

"HOMME, S. In.,-homo, m. L.,-vegros,-mensch, m. G.,-man: in Zoology, the sole genus belonging to the Order Bimanus, in the Class Mammifera, of Vertebrated Animals; and the only real biped of that Class. Man alone, gifted with the power of language, is capable of communicating his ideas and emotions by conventional sounds and signs. His brain is much more complicated, and more fully developed in its anterior portion, than that of other

animals. None of the Quadrumana pòssess, like him, a peculiar muscle for the extension of the fore- or pointing-finger,-see EXTENSEUR, 5. He alone prepares his food by subjecting it to the action of fire: and, having acquired the means of protecting his body, by artificial coverings, from the influence of atmospheric vicissitudes, is fitted to inhabit every accessible region of the globe. The species, the only one of the genus to which he belongs, will be found to exhibit the six following races: the Caucasian,race Caucasique ou Arabe Européene, F.; the Northern,-Hyperboréene; Mongolian, Mongole; American,—Américaine; Malay, Malaie; and the Negro or Ethiopian,-Nègre ou Ethiopienne. Each of these races, or varieties, is distinguishable by peculiar characters drawn from the figure of the skull, the features of the face, texture of the hair, and colour of the skin. See Lawrence, Lectures on the Physiology, Zoology, and Natural History of Man, 8vo., London, 1819; and Prichard, Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 2 vol. 8vo.

British Song Birds; being popular Descriptions and Anecdotes of the Choristers of the Groves. By Neville Wood, Esq. London: Parker, West Strand. 1836.

The Ornithologist's Text-Book: being Reviews of Ornithological Works; with an Appendix, containing Discussions on various topics of interest. By Neville Wood, Esq. London: Parker, West Strand. 1836.

NATURAL HISTORY, amongst the enlightened and contemplative, is now so universally studied that every writer on the subject, however small may be the portion which he offers to the general stock, is looked upon with more than complacency-he is welcomed as a valuable fellow-labourer in this pleasing and instructive science. If such, then, be the reception extended to an ordinary writer, with how much more favour may we consider the emanations of an author to be entitled, who, well versed in theory and in practice, devoting his assiduous attention to an almost exclusive study, and discarding the fanciful illusions of mere abstract contemplation, draws his conclusions from the unerring source of vigilantly applied personal investigation.

Natural History is no longer a subject confined to observation, but by recent discoveries it has become one of the deepest philosophic investigation-consequently it is a far loftier and more difficult study than formerly. To Mr. Neville Wood the science of ornithology is greatly indebted; his various publications in scientific journals, which have been numerous, attest his capability and knowledge; and his recently published works, now before us, are evidences of his powers of investigation, his accuracy of description, and his practical experience, which will always insure him a high standing amongst the votaries of ornithological science.

From The British Song Birds we give the following graphic account of the Longtailed Tit, which will afford an interesting specimen of the mode in which the author has treated his subject :—

"This beautiful and somewhat remarkable looking bird, is equally widely and abundantly distributed throughout the British islands with the four pre